Glucose utilization, i.e. glycolysis, and de novo biosynthesis of glucose, i.e. gluconeogenesis, are important metabolic pathways and directly affect the diabetic condition, e.g. in man. The understanding of their biochemical control has been greatly enhanced by the discovery of .beta.-D-fructose-2,6-diphosphate of the following formula (A): ##STR2## as a crucial regulating agent, see S. J. Pilkis et al. in The Journal of Biological Chemistry, Vol. 256, No. 7, pp. 3171-3174 (1981). Diphosphate (A) activates glycolysis by stimulating 6-phosphofructo-1-kinase which is the enzyme that converts fructose-6-phosphate into fructose-1,6-diphosphate and also deactivates gluconeogenesis by inhibiting fructose-1,6-biphosphatase, which is the enzyme that catalyzes the reverse reaction.
It is an object of the invention to provide compounds which are related in structure to the compound of formula (A), which possess similar biological activity and which are readily synthesized.